Clarion West and Seattle Writes presents Beyond Afrofuturism: Zines and Magazines: Expanding Worlds in Speculative Fiction. Registration required. Click here to register on our partner’s website.

Beyond Afrofuturism: Black Editors and Publishers in Speculative Fiction

Join us for a series of conversations featuring today’s Black publishers and editors of anthologies and magazines, aimed at expanding our understanding of the ways in which editorial roles impact the worlds of speculative fiction. Dates: 4/12, 5/16, 5/17

This series is presented in partnership with the Seattle Public Library and is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation.

Zines and Magazines: Expanding Worlds in Speculative Fiction

Date: Monday, May 17th, 7 p.m. Pacific

Featuring: Eboni Dunbar (FIYAH Magazine), Craig Laurance Gidney (Baffling Magazine), Brent Lambert (FIYAH Magazine), Chinelo Onwualu (Omenana/Anathema) and LaShawn Wanak (Giganotosaurus).

Join prominent Black editors of online zines and magazines as they discuss their journeys into editing and the role editors play in creating space for the voices of BIPOC communities in the speculative fiction field.

Moderated by Arley Sorg of Locus and Fantasy Magazine.

About the Panelists:

Craig Laurance Gidney (Baffling magazine)

Craig Laurance Gidney writes both contemporary and genre fiction. He is the author of the collections Sea, Swallow Me & Other Stories (Lethe Press, 2008), Skin Deep Magic (Rebel Satori Press, 2014), Bereft (Tiny Satchel Press, 2013) and A Spectral Hue (Word Horde, 2019). He is the co-editor of Baffling Magazine (along with dave ring), an online magazine of queer speculation fiction.

Chinelo Onwualu (Omenana/Anathema)

I am a Nigerian writer and editor living in Toronto. I’m the non-fiction editor of Anathema Magazine, and co-founder of Omenana, a magazine of African Speculative Fiction. I’m also former chief spokesperson for the African Speculative Fiction Society. My short stories have been featured in Slate, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, The Kalahari Review, and Brittle Paper, as well as in several anthologies including the award-winning New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction from People of Colour edited by Nisi Shawl. You can find me on my website at: www.chineloonwualu.com or follow me on Twitter @chineloonwualu.

Arley Sorg (Fantasy)

Arley Sorg is co-Editor-in-Chief at Fantasy Magazine, as well as associate editor at Locus Magazine and both Lightspeed & Nightmare Magazines. He reviews books for Locus, Lightspeed, and Cascadia Subduction Zone and is an interviewer for Clarkesworld Magazine. Arley grew up in England, Hawaii, and Colorado, and studied Asian Religions at Pitzer College. He lives in Oakland, and, in non-pandemic times, usually writes in local coffee shops. He is a 2014 Odyssey Writing Workshop graduate.

Eboni Dunbar (FIYAH)

Eboni J Dunbar (She/her) is a queer, black woman who writes queer and black speculative fiction. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her partner. She received her BA from Macalester College in English and her MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. She is a VONA Alum, a former associate editor for PodCastle, a managing editor for FIYAH Literary Magazine, and a freelance reviewer. Her work can be found in FIYAH Literary Magazine, Drabblecast, Anathema: Spec from the margins and Nightlight Podcast. She also has a novella out now from Neon Hemlock called Stone and Steel. You can follow her on twitter @sugoionna87.

LaShawn M. Wanak (Giganotosaurus/Uncanny)

LaShawn M. Wanak lives in Wisconsin with her husband and son. She writes science fiction, fantasy, and a little bit of horror. Her works have been published in Fireside Magazine, FIYAH, Uncanny Magazine, and many others. She is the editor of the online magazine GigaNotoSaurus and a book reviewer for Lightspeed Magazine. When she is not working at her dayjob as an administrative assistant, she enjoys knitting, anime, and wrestling with theological truths from a Black womanist perspective. Writing stories keeps her sane. Also, pie.

Brent Lambert (FIYAH)

Comic books, SFF and good cooking are the essential elements of SFF author Brent Lambert. A full-fledged military brat, he is consistently struck by wanderlust and has a keen sense of things never really being permanent. Currently based out of San Diego, he gets to enjoy sunshine for more than half the year. Always working, he’s determined to allow Black Queer men to be the stars of their own stories. He can be found on Twitter @brentclambert

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